Syria

Pompeo to meet Netanyahu in Brussels

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Brussels on Monday. The meeting, which was announced by the Israeli side only this morning, will deal with Iranian activity in Syria and Lebanon, according to Israeli officials.

Why it matters: The timing and the venue of this meeting are a bit out of the ordinary. Israeli officials told me the venue was chosen because it was the "in the middle of the way" between Washington and Jerusalem, adding the meeting was originally planned to take place on Wednesday in Milan but the time and place have changed because of President George H.W. Bush's funeral. The State Department did not announce the meeting with Netanyahu in advance and did not release Pompeo's daily schedule on its website — and its statement on Pompeo's trip to Brussels released this morning doesn't mention the meeting with Netanyahu.

Details: Before taking off from Tel Aviv, Netanyahu said that he will discuss with Pompeo "the Iranian aggression in Israel's northern border." Israel remains concerned with Iranian military entrenchment in Syria and with the precision missile factories Iran has been building for Hezbollah in Lebanon and wants the U.S. to press the Lebanese government to prevent the building of the missile factories.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said in a closed hearing on Monday that Russia recently proposed to Israel and the U.S. that Iran be granted relief from some U.S. sanctions in return for the removal of Iranian forces and proxies from Syria.

Why it matters: Iranian retrenchment in Syria is a huge concern for Israel, but the Russian position until now has been, at least publicly, that Iran's presence is legitimate because it came at the Assad regime's invitation. This is the first we're hearing that the Russians have floated an idea for Iran's withdrawal, and that they're linking it to U.S. sanctions.

Netanyahu's statements came during a hearing of the foreign affairs and security committee of the Knesset.

Lawmakers who attended the hearing said Netanyahu did not say whether the Russian proposal was made during his short conversation with Vladimir Putin in Paris last Sunday, but that it definitely seemed that way from the prime minister's comments.

They said Netanyahu spoke favorably about his meeting with Putin, and said the Russians cannot push the Iranians out of Syria on their own, but need help from other world powers.

According to the members of Knesset who attended the hearing, Netanyahu said Russia and the U.S. were discussing ways to limit Iranian influence in Syria — including the Russian proposal on sanctions relief.

Netanyahu said that on November 8th, U.S. special envoy for Syria James Jeffrey met in Vienna with Russian officials to discuss the issue. On November 5th, three days before the Vienna meeting, Netanyahu met Jeffrey in Jerusalem.

During the hearing, Netanyahu was asked if Israel had expressed a position on the Russian proposal. He said it was at the moment only an idea, and that Israel hasn't formulated a policy on it.

The Russian embassy in Tel-Aviv declined to comment on this story. A senior State Department official didn't deny it, and told me: "We remain engaged with the UN ‎and other parties, including Russia, to encourage all possible efforts to advance the political track as called for in UNSCR 2254. We do not however discuss the substance of these diplomatic discussions".